Forum:Creative Writing Club/Riot\AU's Portfolio
MOCKINGJAY REVIEW Mockingjay is a book made by Suzanne Collins as the third and final book in the Hunger Games trilogy. Now, I bet some of you have no idea what the Hunger Games is, so let me explain. Welcome to Panem, a place where the nation is divided into twelve districts, a hidden thirteenth one that was thought to be destroyed and the capital city. So, the twelve districts each make certain products and give them to the capital. Some of the districts, such as 1 and 2, are treated more kindly than the other districts. However, certain districts are basically surrounded by starved people, like twelve. Also, once before, when district thirteen was still active, the districts waged war on the capital, but it ended with the thirteenth almost being destroyed, although the citizens of thirteen were really starting to live underground. The capital then had to punish the districts somehow, so, they made up the Hunger Games, where one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district would come to the capital, train and then be sent to a random and normally extremely dangerous location, where each of the 24 participants would have to hunt down and kill each of their opponents. So, the main character, Katniss Everdeen and her friend, Peeta, have been in two Hunger Games, managed not to get killed and have become a fake couple so that people would support them. Great right? Nah. The districts have started to wage war on the capital, district 12 has been destroyed and only Katniss's family, her best friend (or more) Gale and a handful of others have escaped alive. So, now, they're all at district thirteen, preparing for war. Okay, now that we have the introduction through, let's get started on the actual book. In my opinion, overall, the book is boring, over-dramatic, a bit confusing, depressing and worst of all, incredibly disappointing. I mean, the book is called the Hunger Games series! We wanted this for the Hunger Games! Not some over-emotional story-line about how a girl is struggling with her "love" for two different boys (romance is the worst genre in my opinion) and acting as a figurehead while she never actually does anything when not on camera!! And they keep on talking about "what if all human life gets wiped out", "oh no, I didn't kill my best friend, "ah, I can't commit suicide". I mean, what? It just gets SO over-dramatic sometimes. And about the ending... Well, SPOILERS ALERT!! Well, so, this is a bunch of depressing things that happens in the story... a very good character from district 4 dies, the main characters sister dies, Peeta only gets beaten to a bloody pulp a few times, nearly everyone in the series abandons Katniss, they have to kill a ton of people so they can get the help of district 2, etc. Yeah. Did I mention that the main character tries to starve herself to death? Yeah, oh, I forgot confusing. Okay, so, let's see. The book never states what happens to the world after the war is over, the book says the Hunger Games are going to continue after the war, but it doesn't, no one knows how the main antagonist, President Snow died, Katniss believed the liar who destroyed her home why, again, I have to say etc. Oh, and not to mention, the other books had dramatic moments, but at least not THIS over the top. They had a ton of crazy cool action sections and some deaths, but not overly depressing ones. Ones that were tragic, but weren't just... bad. And they weren't confusing! They also had a ton of good characters, but it seems Mockingjay had all of them fly away and replaced with newer ones that weren't as talented. However, I'm not saying this is a completely terrible book. Well, it kinda was, but it's probably just because the other books were so good, this one's ending was bad, Peeta was only beaten to a bloody pulp a few times,they had some good characters removed or changed and because I HATE romance books. Well, at least it does have those good characters for a bit, some pretty inventive stuff in the scenes that the characters do die (mutants, cool ones) and the awesome cover. And Peeta did get beaten to a bloody pulp a few times. So entertaining to read. Well, on a scale of ten, I'd give it a 6, maybe worth getting at the library, but not for buying. Week 1 Challenge Entry Hello, how are you? Wait a minute, who are you? I am somebody. The Fall If you said to a person that you fell down, they would mostly think you'd trip. But for the protagonist of this story, it's different. Well, he was the protagonist, but I disliked him, so now, he's not in the story. He fell from the highest point in his reality, starting as a great hero who would win great glory and get a happy ending, to a man who's story never began and will never end. He is stuck wandering in a desert, having escaped Death. I might use this character, but I might not. You may wonder why I'm writing this. Well, I'd like to ask, what right to we have, kids and teenagers, to shape a persons existence? Maybe it's true that that these people don't exist, but perhaps it's not. They exist in our minds, our words and in our eyes. We imagine them. We listen to them. We read them. Yet, we make them unhappy. And if they aren't unhappy, some make them perfect. Perfection is a thing that should never be reached, nor could it be. So, why do we imagine people with great wealth, powers, luck and personalities? What makes them better then you or I? Nothing. Even I have more of a write at perfection then they do. And the unhappiness... people make villains to make the story interesting. But why does a story need to be interesting? Shouldn't these people simply be able to have a calm normal life with normal worries, not having to deal with the end of the world? What I'm trying to get across is that I'm incredibly bored is that Mary-sues and Gary-stus are bad, but you should treat your characters like they have feelings and not make them go through the biggest challenges that ever existed. Give them some peace, and don't just eliminate them from existence because you don't like them. Shadow of the Colossus Video Game Review Rating: T, for heavy use of black-colored blood on the bosses. Platforms: Playstation 2, Playstation 3. Shadow of the Colossus is easily one of the most unique video games I've seen, and probably the most unique that I've had the pleasure of playing. It's really just a great game. First of all, here's the story. You, play as Wander, who has come to a forbidden land on his horse, Agro, so he can make a deal with a demon named Dormin and resurrect his dead lover, Mono (R.I.P. Monocao). Dormin says he can resurrect Mono, but Wander has to kill 16 monsters called Colossi, so Dormin will be released from the temple that is in the center of the forbidden land where Wander is in. The only way to kill these Colossi is with the sacred sword, which Wander stole. So, with a loyal horse, a bow and arrow, a sword and determination, Wander sets off, ready to kill the Colossi to save Mono's life, no matter what the cost. Well, as you go on, there is more added on to the story, but if you spoil it, you WILL regret it. Trust me, I do. This also happens to be a prequel to a game called ICO, but I don't really see many similarities between the two, so I'd suggest SotC first, then ICO. Well, in game, you only have about 48 things to do, find the Colossi, figure out how to kill them and then kill them. But trust me, the game is much more than that. You see, the forbidden land, well, it's huge. It's really detailed and it's just plain beautiful. Graphics aren't everything, but the land of the Colossi is just so well-made, you just have to give the games creators credit. Of course, I do have a problem with the forbidden land. Well, to find each Colossus, you need to use the sacred sword in the sunlight and it'll reflect a beam of light in the direction of the Colossus you're supposed to fight. It's a good idea, but I had a lot of trouble finding some of the Colossus. It got really annoying. But it was so worth it to fight the Colossi. I would really like to show some stuff about the Colossus, but I don't want to spoil any of the fights. But I'll tell you this: they are HUGE! I mean, you can say that for the bosses of a lot of other games, but one of the Colossi is the size of a buildings! And although some are only about the size of a car, those are the most violent, not counting the number 10, who is pretty large. I always get a rush of adrenaline while fighting the Colossus, especially during the fight with number 10. And even if you aren't a fan of giant monsters, fantasy games like Zelda or super-action, the Colossi only have certain points in which you can hurt them, and sometimes you need to climb up things, grab items and a load of other stuff to figure out how to kill the Colossi. This becomes so important in the game to the point where this game is considered a... puzzle game! I realize how many of you enjoy Layton and Ace Attorney, you know. Oh, and in terms of music... go play the game, and if you don't fall in love with the soundtrack, I will have a heart attack. The music is so fitting, exciting, up-beat and tragic, that you just have to play the game to understand it! Now, this game is not perfect. I already addressed how it's kinda confusing where to go, but sometimes the battles with the Colossi can become very frustrating and not fun (yes, number 9, I am looking at you) because of how hard it is to get on them and kill them. However, I always found some fun in every single Colossi, even number 9. I also had some occasional problems with the controls. I always get confused about which buttons to press, and near the end of the game I had some problems with the camera angle. But those are minor compared to the awesomeness of the rest of the game. Although not perfect, Shadow of the Colossus has got to be one of the best games ever. If I had to give it a score, I'd give it a 9.8 out of ten, a must-buy if you have the PS2 and even more-so if you have a PS3, since an updated version of the game is being made for it along with ICO.